Slow Cooker Creole Chicken and Sausage

This idea originated as a simple shredded Creole chicken kind of thing made in the slow cooker so my cooking life could be awesomely easy and full of mouth rocking flavor, and then bam: it morphed into something a little more healthy. The addition of sausage (just kidding – not healthy and I still really ❤ sausage, in particular smoked Andouille sausage yum yum yum), beans, and bell peppers, all simmered up in that spicy tomato sauce?

I’m doing the Creole Chicken dance right now. Don’t even imagine it.

HOW TO MAKE OUR CREOLE CHICKEN & SAUSAGE (40 SEC):

And then I became food weird and random things were added. Like almond butter – no explanation there – and brown sugar, and green onions. But food friends, please resist the temptation to think that this doesn’t taste good. I’m telling you: it was really good. And oh, how I looked forward to eating the leftovers for lunch all week. Like, seriously. 10 AM, in the middle of a lesson on single digit division, this was on my brain. But what else is new?

Yesterday we returned home from our vacation to Arizona, and I’m not going to lie: I’m currently wallowing in the depths of Minnesota despair. I traded cucumber water and sandals for hot teas and slippers. It’s going to snow tomorrow, and for some reason my Facebook newsfeed is blowing up with people talking about yay spring. Like, what?! Breaking 40 degrees for a few hours in the afternoon is NOT yay spring. We probably can’t even be friends anymore if you’re going to act like that.

Six days ago you may or may not have seen my cruising through the hood with my windows rolled down, sunglasses on, wind blowing in the nice 41 degree Minnesota air. But now I have a major crush on Arizona, and it’s really hard to like my home state right now.

Grr. + Brrr.

I can’t wait to show you some vacation pictures next week! One of my favorite things about how the blog has developed in the last year is how much interest you guys have in regular-life posts that I do every now and then. I am all about the food, and so are you, but I’m glad we can be friends.

Slow Cooker Creole Chicken and Sausage

Description

This Slow Cooker Creole Chicken and Sausage just takes 10 minutes to prep and has beans and bell peppers for bonus healthy points.

Scale

Ingredients

The essentials:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts

12 ounces smoked Andouille sausage, cut into small rounds

1 cup chopped onions

2 cloves minced garlic

1 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 teaspoons Creole seasoning

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Optional extras:

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 14 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 green bell peppers, chopped

1/2 cup sliced green onions for topping

2 tablespoons almond butter (randomly delicious)

salt to taste

brown rice for serving

Instructions

Place the essential ingredients in the crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3 hours.

Shred the chicken directly in the crockpot to your desired texture. Add the extras, if you want, and cover and cook for another 20-30 minutes. This is also a great time to make your rice, if you’re serving it with rice. When everything is ready, taste the chicken mixture and season with salt. Serve the creole chicken over rice and topped with green onions.

193 Comments

Thinking of adding a package of frozen gumbo vegetables to this? Okra, corn, peppers, etc.??? But I don’t have almond butter and do like to idea of something to make it creamy? Half & Half? Sour Cream?
Thoughts?

I made this yesterday and it is delicious! My husband said, “This is definitely a keeper!” Music to my ears! And I agree! I get so excited when we really find a great one that is EASY (dump and run fits our schedule) and is truly delicious. Can’t thank you enough! I’ll have to look at your other recipes!! Really appreciating this one though! Thank you for sharing it! We will enjoy it many times over! 🙂

I just made this for dinner & it turned out great! I like spicy, so I added a jalapeño and a can of spicy diced chili’s. And I only used one green pepper since I did a jalapeño. I also added a little bit of Cajun seasoning as well. And after it was all done cooking in the crock pot, I mixed the cooked rice in with it.
So yummy. Thanks for the idea! Definitely reminds me of New Orleans!

Late to the game, but this is currently in my instant pot, with pot in pot rice. Fingers crossed…a friend made this a few weeks ago and figured out the times, so at least that was helpful. Can’t wait to try!!

Very similiar to a cooktop dish we make, BUT I can put together in the morning and eat when we get home. Instead of tomoatoes I used rotel, then added shrimp towards the end. The black beans were a great idea. Thank you!

In my humble opinion, a Creole recipe is never complete without the full Trinity (onion, bell pepper, and celery). I added all 3 in at the beginning and the texture was perfect after 8 hours. Also sautéed the sausage coins prior to adding to the Crockpot. Definitely a keeper!

I made this over the weekend and it’s so good. I added black beans and bell peppers. I’ve been taking it to work for lunches and I’ve had a handful of coworkers tell me how good it smells. Definitely gonna keep making this recipe!